A/n: The prompt for this one was actually intervention between friends, but my brain managed to make even this about TyHil so enjoy this silly update. This one is probably set a few months or weeks before the Lace oneshot, I've realised that I kinda enjoy writing in that verse!

And Rei's girlfriend's name isn't mentioned here since I'm always shuffling between ReiMao or ReiSal, so feel free to imagine whichever one you prefer.

Tale 23

- x -

She hadn't thought it suspicious when she received a message from Tyson informing her that the guys were stopping by for dinner, but when Hilary finally made it back home after a long day at college to find two out of five members who she had always counted as "the guys" missing from the scene, it rang a warning bell in her head and she couldn't help but put her guard up the minute she stepped into their apartment. Tyson looked unfazed sprawled across their couch as the other three guys sat in a semi-circle across from him, on beanbags and a stool making Hilary feel slightly embarrassed over the lack of furniture in their house. Once she set aside her bag and books, Tyson shifted and sat up straight to make space for her on the couch, and as she took her place next to him she realised that he wasn't unfazed, but tired and she wondered why he hadn't just told their friends to come over some other time.

On the table in front of them, carefully arranged were some sweets and snacks, and a box with various takeaway coffee cups. It looked too organised to be Tyson's doing so she turned to smile at the obvious answer, Rei. He accepted her thanks, though not as smoothly as he usually did, as if he was a bit nervous about something, immediately looking away after nodding at her and making eye contact with only the dumplings on the table. Hilary brushed his strange behaviour aside and looked carefully at all the various coffees, one had her name on it and she grinned, Max always knew what to get her. She eagerly picked out her cup from the lot and took a sip, the sweet taste of caramel contrasting with the added sea salt flavour gave her the exact energy boost she had been craving all day. When she looked at Max to convey her thanks, he nodded with a hardened smile, and that was something she couldn't turn a blind eye to.

Perhaps the only person in the room who seemed like their usual self was Kai, too busy scrolling on his tablet to pay heed to any of them. They were all used to his behaviour so it didn't bother any of them, after all Kai was juggling between going to college and training to take over his Grandfather's enterprise, so it was natural for him to be busier than the rest of them. Hilary had half expected to see Chief in his place today when she'd gotten the message from Tyson, but was pleasantly surprised to find him in his usual corner at their house, concentrating on his work. She greatly admired him for his ability to stay focused on a task and ignore his surroundings, it was something she could use while studying at home when Tyson was around.

Speaking of which, her boyfriend was the only other person behaving like themselves, as the minute she took her pick of the coffee, he launched himself on the various snacks available to them. She had half a mind to swat his hand away, but as he had waited for her to start his onslaught, Hilary decided that she could let him get away with it for now. Picking up a manju bun for herself, she focused her attention on her two suspicious friends, locking eyes first with Rei, who immediately looked away and then with Max, who held her stare in an odd show of bravery from his end, making her raise her eyebrows in surprise.

"So, what is all this?" Hilary asked, biting into the bun, savouring the sweet taste of the red bean paste filling for a moment before swallowing the bite.

"We have something we need to talk to you guys about," Max answered right off the bat, folding his arms across his chest, as he watched her and Tyson with an unfamiliar expression in his usually bright blue eyes.

She wondered if they had done something to upset Max recently, racking her brain to remember when was the last time she had hung out with him and Tyson together, "Go ahead." Hilary gestured for him to continue, though she was unable to match the steely look on his face as her curious side took over and she could only stare back blankly, waiting for him to drop the bomb.

"Lately, we feel like things have been getting out of hand."

"Well not exactly-" Rei tried to interrupt him, but the blond wasted no time in talking over him.

"So the three of us unanimously decided to hold this intervention."

It was obvious to Hilary by how Kai was barely tuned into the conversation and how terrifyingly nervous Rei looked, that this decision had been far from unanimous.

"Intervention for what exactly?" She shot back, her voice moving up a pitch, as she folded her arms across her chest to prove to Max that she meant business too, Tyson was of course in the middle of filling his stomach, so she knew that she had to be the one to take a stand for them. No matter how much she valued their friends, they had to know that they couldn't just drop by unannounced for obviously irrelevant things like this. Hilary was taken aback however, by how Max refused to be intimidated by her, which was rare since she was used to everyone cowering in fear once she put her stern face on. He must feel really strongly about the issue, she thought to herself.

"You two need to pull yourselves together when you're around the rest of us, and need to stop throwing your relationship in our faces."

"But we never do that!"

The words left her mouth at the speed of light, and this time both Rei and Max flinched at the tone of her voice, and rightly so. Hilary couldn't believe that of all the people who'd accuse them of something so untrue, their closest friends had been the ones to do so. She was furious that the three people sitting in front of her would even dare to think that her or Tyson were selfish enough to show off their relationship. It was also a well known fact among their group that Hilary heavily disliked public displays of affection, so she could only wonder just what it was that her and Tyson had done to have Max sitting in their living room, looking as determined as ever as he accused of them of the most unbelievable charge ever.

But still she decided to take a deep breath and give Max the benefit of the doubt, clearly something had upset him enough to bring things to this point, so at the least she owed him a listening ear. She nudged Tyson's arm sharply, hoping to draw his attention away from the food and actually help her in defending their dignity as a couple but he just shrugged at her as if the conversation didn't affect him at all, and went back to slurping on his own coffee loudly, fuelling her anger further.

"Besides Rei has a girlfriend who hangs out with us all the time too, so why aren't we doing this for them?" Hilary asked, in a somewhat threatening manner, while she didn't really have anything against Rei or his relationship, she thought it was only fair for him to be thrown under the bus too for agreeing to this with Max. To her surprise however, it wasn't Rei who protested her statement, or Max who gave her a counter argument.

"It's the vibe," Kai said, looking up from his screen with a deadpan expression and making it obvious that the words were not his and had rather been fed to him, which was reassuring in a sense for Hilary as she had never expected Kai to ever utter the word vibe.

"Exactly, you guys are always so lovey-dovey, it needs to stop," Max nodded along, smiling proudly, over either how the conversation was proceeding in his favour or the fact that Kai had actually done what the blond had asked him to do.

"Lovey-dovey? Us?" As much as Hilary wanted to corner Kai and crack him into admitting that this had all been orchestrated by Max, she couldn't just sit back and take the silliest allegation thrown against them all night, "That is ridiculous, we never-"

"To be fair Hilary, we've known the two of you for years," Rei interrupted her, as politely as he could, "We can tell when you're fighting and when you're flirting."

That was one statement Hilary couldn't argue against however much she tried. She had to admit that her and Tyson had very odd ways of showing their affection for each other, maybe it was because they were both very passionate people and this side of them ended up clashing more often than any other. For most people bickering and arguments usually took a serious and sometimes bad turn for their relationship, but for the two of them it was just another form of foreplay.

"Uh-huh," Max bopped his head, blue eyes shining as if he had already tasted victory.

She could tell that even if he had somehow convinced Kai to say his line, Rei had not been on board with the blond's idea from the beginning and having him join in the discussion in agreement was enough to make Max believe he had won.

He raised his chin and smiled slyly at her and Tyson before adding, "It's also very uncomfortable to watch when Tyson has his hands all over you."

"And why shouldn't I have my hands all over her whenever I want?"

Finally, Tyson had decided to break his silence and join in on the conversation, though his provocative statement to Max did not sound reassuring to Hilary, so she glanced at her boyfriend through the corner of her eye. He had, to her disgust, just wiped off his hands on his t-shirt and was narrowing his eyes in a glare directed at his best friend. She had to be grateful at least, that he was now as annoyed by Max as her, but the smugly condescending tone of his voice rang a few alarms in her head and she knew that whatever he would say next would not prove favourable to either of them.

"She's mine, isn't she?"

Tyson announced loudly to the room, glaring at not just Max but all three of his friends, as if daring them to challenge his words. As Hilary covered her face with her hands, hoping that when she put them down again she would've skipped to the end of her life, so that she didn't have to face her friends. She'd watched Max's jaw drop, Rei leaning back in utter surprise and Kai looking up with an amused expression, deciding that the conversation was finally worth paying attention to.

So many years of knowing Tyson and she still didn't understand how he could just say these things out loud without feeling even an inch of embarrassment. Not that Hilary could deny that hearing those words from him didn't make her heart skip a beat and send the butterflies in her stomach in a frenzy, but she would've rather preferred it if he had said it to her when they were alone, and not declared it like a mandate in front of their friends who had just accused them of showing off their relationship too much. She could feel the heat on her cheeks spread all the way to her ears as she realised that there was no way she could salvage a win after this, and her dear friend Max had caught on to this too.

"This is exactly what I'm talking ab-" The vindication in the blond's voice was visibly loud as he shot up from his seat in exclamation, but unfortunately could not finish his sentence.

"Oh please Max, drop the act. You think I don't know why you're doing this?" Tyson rolled his eyes in exasperation as he gestured for his friend to sit back down.

Hilary, hearing the confidence in Tyson's voice finally uncovered her face and shot a questioning look in his direction. Max continued to stand as for the first time that evening, hints of nervousness appeared on his face as he locked eyes with Tyson. A silent argument seemed to pass between the two, but eventually Max slowly slid back down in his seat with a grumpy look on his face, avoiding not just Tyson but everyone else's eyes as well.

"Judy's sister is getting married next month, and they want to perform some sort of coordinated dance at the reception party," Tyson said turning to face Hilary, waving his hands around funnily to mimic the dancing perhaps, which made her lips curl upwards slightly. Relieved by the first hint of a smile on her face, he added, "They need couples for that and since Max isn't seeing anyone right now, Judy asked if you and I would like to be a part of it instead. He's just jealous about being left out."

"Seriously, Max?" Rei shot a menacing look in the blond's direction and the culprit slumped further down, obviously not happy about his real motive behind this intervention being found out.

"I didn't know any of that," Kai piped up, excusing himself from the oncoming argument as he faced Tyson and Hilary with a curt expression, "Max dragged me out of my classroom and told me to say that line in the middle of the discussion."

While Max didn't look too happy with how quickly Rei and Kai had switched sides, his eyes only wandered up to look at Hilary. He was probably wondering whether he would make it out of the apartment alive today after everything that had just happened. And as much as Hilary's fingers were itching to wrap themselves around his neck to give him a good shake and instil deathly fear in him for the rest of his life, she was more intrigued by how Tyson had responded to the invitation by Max's mother.

"What did you tell Judy?"

"I told her I'd check with you and get back to her," Tyson replied, with a sheepish smile he added, "But the thing is I'm going to Miyazaki to collect equipment for the Dojo on the day of the party."

"I see," Hilary nodded, a little bummed that they would have to turn down the offer. She could picture it clearly however, her and Tyson wearing matching outfits and dancing together, enjoying their time on the dance floor and stealing the show. She also knew that if she whined and asked him to change his plans, he would eventually do so, but lately the commitment he had been showing towards kendo and taking over the Dojo was tremendous and she didn't want to be the one to break the flow. That's when her eyes landed on the nervous Max awaiting her judgement for his crimes tonight, and she smiled hopefully at Tyson, "It sounds so much fun though, why don't I go with Max instead?"

"Suit yourself." He shrugged, going back to slurping his coffee loudly.

"Hilary, you'd do that for me?" Max squealed and jumped up in joy again, all the fear and anticipation from earlier disappearing from his face, he curbed his excitement for a minute to look at his best friend with his best puppy dog eyes, "Tyson, you really won't mind?"

With both Tyson and Hilary nodding at him in response, Max jumped up and down a few more times before he quickly whipped out his phone to call Judy and inform of her the change in plans. For the first time since she had entered the apartment tonight, Hilary finally felt that she could let her guard down and lean back into the couch in relief. Seeing as the couple in question had decided to forgive their friend with no repercussions, Rei and Kai relaxed themselves too.

Kai got up from his seat and walked towards their kitchen, as he poured himself a glass of water, he called out to them with just a hint of humour in his voice, "And for the record I'd like to state that I do believe you two are the most tolerable couple to be around."

Rei rolled his eyes at the obvious jab, but Hilary couldn't help but beam at the compliment. She had almost begun to doubt her and Tyson's behaviour for a moment, so words like these were comforting to hear, especially since they came from Kai.

"I'm a little offended that Judy didn't ask me to join the dance as well," Rei stated, frowning at Max who sat down next to him after finishing his call.

"I mean, Rei...come on," Max looked at him pointedly, hoping that his friend would get the hint and he wouldn't actually need to explain why.

"Maybe this intervention should've been for Rei's dancing skills instead," Tyson snickered, earning a laugh or a smile from everyone except their raven haired friend, who could only fold his arms across his chest grumpily in response.

"We oughta call for more food, if you guys still plan to have dinner here," Tyson added, gesturing towards the table in front of him, "I kinda finished everything Rei got."

"What else is new?" Kai turned his eyes upwards with a sigh as he opened a delivery app on his tablet.

By the time their dinner arrived, Hilary had forgotten the reason their friends had shown up in the first place, as she rolled on the couch laughing at Tyson and Max enacting what the dance performance would look like if Judy had asked Rei or Kai instead. As the five of them sat down around the dinner table the conversation had already moved onto who out of Tyson, Kai and Rei knew Max the best and would be able to set him up for a perfect blind date, and while this debated was far more heated than she had expected, the whole thing ending up in a bet and Max having three dates over the course of the next week was exactly the outcome she had predicted.

Even though the attempted intervention had pretty much left Hilary's mind, there were moments when her eyes would land on Tyson and the words 'she's mine' echoed in her ears, making her face go red again as the chopsticks slipped from her hands while she attempted to collect herself, praying that no one noticed her odd behaviour. And yet, despite the state the words put her in, the longer her eyes would linger on Tyson, the more she wanted to hear him say it again. This time she wanted to savour the moment, watch his lips carefully as the words rolled out, relish in the effect the words had on her, impress the image of him speaking it so she could replay it in her mind over and over again.

She could only hope with a tired sigh, that it wouldn't take another intervention for Tyson to admit that out loud again.

- x -

A/n: Who do you think would win the bet about setting Max up? (I'm rooting for Kai hehehe)

I have a very interesting request piled up after this, but at the same time next two months have Digimon related events happening so I might not get time to post until September. I will try my best to slip in some TyHil time but I wanted to warn you all, just in case I'm swamped and don't get anything done in time.

Thank you for reading, leave a review if you can!